1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to double-bearing fishing reels and, more particularly, to a structural improvement in such fishing reels for reducing the axial size of the reel and thereby achieving the recent trend of being a compact and light reel. The above structural improvement is achieved by allowing a magnet unit to radially move relative to a spool shaft, the magnet unit being mounted in opposition to and spaced apart from a conductive wheel of the spool and being adapted for generating the eddy current in the conductive wheel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a typical double-bearing fishing reel, a spool is driven by rotating a handle coupled to one side cover of the reel. A magnet unit is placed in opposition to and spaced apart from a conductive wheel, thus forming an anti-backlash unit. The conductive wheel is formed on one side of the spool. In the above double-bearing fishing reel, the nonmagnetic spool is rotated as the fish line is cast from the spool. The magnet unit in the above state moves in an axial direction of the spool to adjust the gap between the magnet unit and the conductive wheel. The magnet unit thus controls the eddy current generated in the conductive wheel and thereby adjusts the spool drag force of the reel.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,361,239 and 5,108,042 disclose double-bearing fishing reels with such an anti-backlash unit. The above U.S. fishing reels have an advantage in that they effectively generate spool drag force on a portion spaced apart from the center of the spool shaft. The magnet unit in the above U.S. fishing reels is directly fixed to a movable cam disc inside one side cover of the reel and selectively axially moves relative to a conductive wheel of the spool, thus generating spool drag force. However, the magnetic line of force of the above magnet unit leaks outside a support plate of the side cover, thereby causing iron powder to be magnetically attracted to the support plate. The iron powder attracted to the support plate may be inserted into the gap between the support plate and the fitting portion of the spool, thus preventing the smooth rotating motion of the spool and causing operational noise in the reel. The above magnet unit also enlarges the axial size of the reel and increases the weight of the reel.
FIG. 1 shows a structure for holding both a handle shaft and a spool shaft bearing in a typical double-bearing fishing reel. As shown in the drawing, the handle shaft 101 is rotatably mounted to one side cover 100 of the reel by inserting one end portion of the handle shaft 101, that has an annular groove, through a hole of a bracket plate 103 prior to engaging with a snap ring 105 inside the plate 103. The above bracket plate 103 is mounted to the side cover 100 by a plurality of screws 106, while the snap ring 105 is fitted over the annular groove of the shaft 101.
However, the above holding structure has a problem in that it requires a plurality of elements, such as the snap ring 105, screws 106 and retainers R for the spool shaft bearing, and thereby increases the cost of the reel. In addition, when the rotating force of the handle is not uniformly applied to all the screws 106 of the plate 103 but concentrically applied to a part of the screws 106, the rotating force may not only cause the screws 106 to be loosened and separated from the side cover 100, it also bends the bracket plate 103, thus reducing the operational reliability of the reel.